Wait, Jurassic Park Has Turtle Sex Sound Effects?

Jurassic Park is a film that has been devoured and analyzed frame by frame ever since it first hit cinemas all the way back in 1993. But there’s something that Cinema Blend recently stumbled on about the blockbuster that we simply had to share with you all because we knew that you’d love it. It turns out that the sound used when the velociraptors are communicating to each other is that of a tortoise having sex.

Gary Rydstrom actually made this revelation to Vulture. Rydstrom won two Academy Awards for sound design and mixing because of his work on Steven Spielberg’s epic, but it turns out that most of the time he was just listening to animals getting down and dirty. Rydstrom explained:

"It’s somewhat embarrassing, but when the raptors bark at each other to communicate, it’s a tortoise having sex. It’s a mating tortoise! I recorded that at Marine World … the people there said, ‘Would you like to record these two tortoises that are mating?’"

First things first, let’s all cross our fingers and pray that the employees at Marine World knew Rydstrom was a sound engineer before they asked him if he wanted to record the tortoises having sex. Otherwise that’s just plain creepy.

I’m going to guess that the rest of you, like me, immediately want to re-watch the scene to see if Rydstrom's revelation will alter how we watch Jurassic Park forever. Well, you’re in luck, because a clip of the velopirators communicating can be viewed below.

Well, that’s it. Jurassic Park is now officially spoilt. Thanks Rydstrom! Unfortunately, I’ve never had the honor of hearing turtles having sex, so I’m unable to decipher if Rydstrom manipulated the vocals to get his desired sound, or if he simply just placed them into the scene exactly as they were. I suppose the only way I’m going to find that out is by finding two turtles, dimming the lights and playing Barry White for the pair.

Rydstrom also confirmed that the sound of a horse was used for the galliminus, a Jack Russell terrier provided some of the Tynrannosaur rex’s key noises, while the hiss of the raptor that provokes Muldoon to respond "Clever girl" came from, of all things, a goose. In fact, Rydstrom admitted to making the goose mad just to get his desired sound for Jurassic Park. God knows what he would have done to the turtles if their sex noises weren’t what he wanted.